Headline 4

Commodity Morning View For 20 June 2014

Friday, June 20, 2014

Share To:

Bullions:- Gold eased on Friday after posting its biggest one-day rise in nine months but the safe-haven metal was still trading near April highs and was on track to post its best week in two months, boosted by technical buying and geopolitical tensions.Gold posted its biggest jump since September on Thursday, as technical buying picked up on tensions in Iraq and supported by the Federal Reserve's lack of commitment to raise interest rates. Silver was little changed after jumping 4 percent in the previous session, while platinum group metals also eased after sharp overnight gains. Deutsche Bank is conducting its own investigation into trading around the setting of London's daily gold price benchmark, in addition to one being carried out by Germany's financial watchdog, sources close to the matter said.Any alliance between Barrick Gold Corp and China's sole state-owned gold mining company is likely to involve a smaller, non-core Barrick mine or project and not any of the Canadian miner's main assets, a China National Gold Group official said on Thursday. Private sector gold demand in China, which last year surpassed India to become the world's biggest consumer of the yellow metal, will be flat to slightly lower this year, a China Gold Association official said.

Base Metals:- Zinc prices touched their highest in 16 months on Thursday after recent data showed a rising market deficit, and investors expect the figure to grow further as major mines shut down.In other metals, copper and aluminium ticked higher, lifted by the dollar's fall to a three-week low, while nickel prices came under pressure from a build-up in stockpiles.Copper closed 0.22 percent firmer at $6,725 a tonne, and aluminium ended 0.85 percent higher at $1,889, the highest in about a week.Helping gains was a drop in the dollar against a basket of currencies to its weakest level in three weeks after a cautious message from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday and after a fall in jobless claims on Thursday.

Oil and Energy:- U.S. crude futures climbed towards $107 a barrel in early Asian trade on Friday, supported by the risk of conflict in Iraq disrupting oil supplies, as the United States said it would send military advisers to the country. U.S. crude oil futures contract for July, which expire on Friday, increased 21 cents at $106.64 a barrel as of 0000 GMT. The contract settled 46 cents higher at $106.43 on the previous session.Brent slipped 12 cents at $114.94 a barrel after it previously ended 80 cents higher at $115.06 a barrel, the highest settlement since Sept. 9, 2013.President Barack Obama said on Thursday he was sending up to 300 U.S. military advisers to Iraq but stressed the need for a political solution to the Iraqi crisis as government forces battled Sunni rebels for control of the country's biggest refinery.